'The number one thing was vision' | Local entrepreneur publishes book

The advice given to most authors is “write what you know about.” In Travis Johnson’s case, it’s entrepreneurial enterprise.

Travis Johnson

Johnson has been at it since age 13, when he was selling homemade air fresheners to convenience stores. For 16 years he headed MicroServ, one of Idaho Falls’ first Internet Service Providers. Since selling the company to Colorado­-based JAB Broadband in 2013, he has devoted his attention to commercial real estate management, small business investments and writing.

On Friday, Johnson and his JW Capital partner, Ryan Westwood, released their first book, self­published, “The Five Characteristics of a Successful Entrepreneur.” While the book is based on their own experience, it also incorporates the results of an e­mail survey they sent out to more than 100,000 CEOs, with responses from 2,631.

“The number one thing was vision,” Johnson said. In fact, it was the only characteristic that was identified as essential to success by a majority of the respondents.

Vision stood apart from the other four characteristics: work ethic, resilience, positivity and passion. It was picked by entrepreneurs who had been in business for more than 16 years as often as it was picked by those who had been in business two to five years. In fact, the least likely group of respondents to pick vision were the ones with less than a year of experience.

“It’s hard to say why,” the book says, “but thinking back to our early entrepreneurial days, we can remember how overwhelming everything felt.”

An entrepreneur with no vision — e.g., someone who can’t say whether they want to retain 10 clients or recruit 10,000 in the coming year — is courting stagnation, frustration and failure. Likewise, someone who puts off defining a vision may be able to sustain the business for a long time but will be unable to see the kind of steady growth and achievement that investors hoped to see.

Everybody is going to have a different definition of vision, Johnson said. One person might be looking two years into the future while another might be looking ahead 10. But the book offers a process called V2MOM. That acronym stands for the five components: vision, values, methods, obstacles and measures, all of which must be defined thoroughly to open a path to success.

A good sense of timing can also be the difference between success and stagnation. “It’s not just being ready for what’s coming,” Johnson said. “It’s having the pieces in place to make things possible.”

Johnson was not thinking about selling MicroServ when JAB Broadband approached him about buying it. Once a deal was set in motion, the sale took 60 days. It was a full-­on stock sale, one of two that JAB has done in its acquisition of small ISPs around the Rockies, and what was surprising is that the due diligence uncovered no issues like HR claims or pending lawsuits.

It’s an open question as to whether someone can be taught to be a successful entrepreneur. Just because someone is a skilled cook doesn’t mean they have what it takes to run a successful restaurant.

When they invest in a company, Johnson and Westwood take an active role. “We’re more like partners in the business ranter than handing them money,” Johnson said. In the case of EcoFlower, a company in West Haven, Utah, that manufactures hand-carved flowers made out of wood, sales went from $9,000 in 2014 to $1 million in 2015. The company now has an 8,000­ square­-foot warehouse and 30 employees.

“We’ve already done it. We’ve been there,” Johnson said. “We try and help people get going as fast as they want to go.”

Rizo's Pizza coming to Teton Spectrum

Owner Jaime Rhoda says he hopes to have Rizo's Pizza in Ammon open by early June.

We've had several questions about the free-standing building going up in the Teton Spectrum parking lot, on Eagle Drive. Although we reported on it in December when the building plans were filed with the city of Ammon, this is the home of Rizo’s Pizza. It's always good to remember that not everyone is hanging on our every word.

Owner and developer Jaime Rhoda said he hopes to have the restaurant open by early June. The plan calls for a 1,250-square foot dining area and a 553-square foot kitchen. Rizo’s will feature fire-baked pizza and specialty salads. “It’s thin-crust pizza made on demand, coming in two sizes. It’s made very fast, only three or four minutes,” Rhoda said.

He described the design concept for the restaurant as fast casual and patterned after Chipotle. “Overall it’s a really neat concept,” he said. “The price points are really good, and with two different sizes, the kids get what they want and the parents get what they want, too.”

INL helps sponsor i-STEM seminars

The Idaho Science, Technology, Engineering and Math initiative, or i-STEM, is offering six low-cost teacher institutes this summer, to be held around the state in June and July.

i-STEM is a partnership lead by INL in collaboration with educators, government agencies and private companies working to improve STEM education in Idaho. The lab’s daily operations require skilled technical workers educated in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.

“The program helps educators enhance their STEM content knowledge through context,” said Anne Seifert, executive director of i-STEM and INL’s K-12 STEM manager. “We are proud to support a wonderful team from across the state that is helping sponsor and support this important professional development opportunity.”

The schedule is as follows:

June 20-23 at North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene
June 20-23 at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston
June 21-24 at Idaho State University in Pocatello
June 27-30 at Eastern Idaho Technical College in Idaho Falls
June 27-30 at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls
July 27-30 at the College of Western Idaho in Nampa

Interested teachers can register for the i-STEM Teacher Institutes by visiting the following website: http://sde.idaho.gov/academic/istem/events.html.

During the workshops, participants choose a specific topic to study, such as clean energy, environmental sustainability, nuclear science, chemistry, computer science, manufacturing, agriculture, gaming and others. They attend sessions taught by STEM experts and participate in general sessions to learn how to integrate STEM, 21st-century skills, career awareness, and the practices of the Idaho Core Standards into the subjects they teach. Participants receive continuing education credits and resource kits.

i-STEM members include INL, Idaho universities and community colleges, State Department of Education, Idaho State Board of Education, Intermountain Gas, Micron and Idaho Power, and others. More information is available at http://sde.idaho.gov/academic/istem/.

Boise commercial real estate company opening Idaho Falls office

Brent Wilson

Thornton Oliver Keller Commercial Real Estate, Idaho’s largest full-service commercial real estate firm, has announced it is opening an office in Idaho Falls, at a location yet to be announced.

The company is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and has experienced considerable growth, completing more than 40 percent of the commercial real estate transactions in the Boise market over the last 10 years. Independently owned, TOK has 26 agents, averaging over 15 years of experience and listing nearly 500 properties throughout the state of Idaho. Its property management department is accredited by the Institute of Real Estate Management and manages more 5 million square feet of commercial real estate.

“Outside of Boise, Idaho Falls is the largest market in Idaho and continues to grow,” said Michael Ballantyne, managing partner, in a news release. “The opening of this office will provide increased opportunities and services to our existing clients while also introducing Thornton Oliver Keller to new prospective clients. We look forward to serving southeast Idaho with the same client focus that has led to our success in Boise.”

Brian Wilson

The Idaho Falls offices means the addition of two agents in Idaho Falls, Brent Wilson and Brian Wilson. “Brent shares our commitment to quality commercial real estate brokerage and has been the leading agent in Idaho Falls for several years," Ballantyne said. "We are very pleased to have him join our firm and help us to launch the new office.”

“I look forward to sharing the resources and knowledge in southeast Idaho,” said Brent Wilson. “Their market research and technology will broaden my reach and enhance the support my clients receive.”

Thornton Oliver Keller is independently owned by 14 members of the firm and was selected in 2015 by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as a winner in the annual Blue Ribbon Small Business Awards program that recognizes companies for their success and innovation as well as contributions to economic growth and free enterprise.

Idaho Falls water company takes honors at international tasting

Mike Sedlmayr and his daughter, Kiersten Landers, are remodeling space on Whittier Avenue into the headquarters for Divinia Water.

An Idaho Falls bottled water startup called Divinia took high honors Feb. 27 at the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting in Berkeley Springs, W.Va.

Billing itself as the “Academy Awards of Water,” 10 judges spent hours taking and selecting from waters sourced in 18 states, seven Canadian provinces and five foreign countries, including Greece, France, Macedonian and New Zealand.

Divinia took the silver in the Best Purified Drinking Water Category, which had only been added this year. The company is headed by Steven Sedlmayr, who has been using well water from the Roberts area but is moving his operation to a location on Whittier Street and will be using Idaho Falls water once in operation.

Sedlmayr built his patented purifier in his garage in response to a request from his wife, Remy, whom he describes as a “water snob.” The purifier removes such contaminants as arsenic, chlorine, fluoride, lead, pharmaceuticals, pesticides and antibiotics. The process uses 14 stages of filtration, taking over eight hours to purify three gallons of water.

Through lab tests at UC Davis, Divinia has been verified as deuterium depleted water. This is done with what Sedlmayr calls a microwave resonant chamber, which breaks the hydrogen-oxygen bonds in water. “It was a freak discovery,” he said. “I was actually afraid of it for a while.”

It’s bottled in glass, not plastic, because Sedlmayr claims chemicals from plastic bottles leach into the water, especially if subjected to higher temperatures.

The water was a hit in December at the Live Winter 2015 Bevnet Expo in Santa Monica. “We were like rock stars there,” said Sedlmayr. The 72 bottles they took were quickly snapped up and some key contacts were made, especially with potential customers in Europe and Asia.

Operating on a direct sales model, Divinia can be purchased online. It isn’t cheap: a three-gallon case costs $165. Production is between 30 to 40 cases a week, but they will be scaling up once moved into their new location in Idaho Falls, and Idaho Steel is collaborating on a larger version of Sedlmayr’s filtering apparatus.

The company is looking for investors, and admits it has a challenge. “It’s up to us to build credibility,” said Kiersten Landers, Sedlmayr’s daughter and Divinia’s chief operating officer.

This isn’t Sedlmayr’s first foray into the world of invention-based entrepreneurship. His career dates back to the 1980s, when he pioneered a manufacturing process for flat-screen high-definition television. This November 1989 article from Inc. Magazine has a lot of interesting information on that period of his life: Blind Ambition: Two companies fight over the patent rights to fiber optic HDTV (high-definition television).